Why is there still no REAL multiplayer?

[beelbeebub]

From the horse's mouth, so to speak, "Wings" coming "early next year" https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=69795
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And the crucial quote:

Hello Commanders!

I'd like to make a comment here.
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We're currently working on completing the Gamma phase in preparation for the 16th; we want the game to be as rock solid as possible so everyone who jumps in can start having fun from the get go.
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But development for Elite: Dangerous will continue unabated. We've many features planned post-launch, some already discussed in the forums, others that haven't been announced.
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For example, player wings should hit early next year and our ship roster will continue to grow.
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Whenever possible I'll try to keep folks updated in these forums, but I hope you can appreciate that us devs don't always have the time to answer every query, and we don't always have the answer on hand straight away (but don’t let that stop you from asking or discussion – we read a heck of a lot more than we could possibly answer!), so I recommend keeping a weather eye on the newsletters for information as well.

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and

Hello Commanders!

A tiny bit more information on player wings:

It's the ability to mechanically group up with a small number of other players to share rewards and risk. So we are looking at:

* enhanced matchmaking for wingmen
* enhanced/clear feedback for who and where wingmen are
* shared information within the wing
* shared bounties and mission rewards
* on-going mission support for wing gameplay

To be absolutely clear, this is not anything to do with NPC wingmen (though they do sound similar).

And as an added caveat! This is what we are looking at, the final result *may* have more or less bits! To be absolutely, lutely-abso clear.

 

[BoldyBald]

Is this your first online game launch experience? I can tell you that Elite's launch was the smoothest I've experienced in years. Fired up launcher at 12:00 16th, game finished downloading at 14:50, 15:00 after tutorials I was flying around and pew pewing.

Pretty much every game launched in last 5 years wasn't able to provide that for me and most of them are plagued by issues to these days. Heck these days when game launches you DON'T expect to get in or it to be working automatically because that's how it is when companies make games for money not passion. Hence the term zero day patch.

So my answer is: Cut the devs some slack they released pretty polished product compared to competition (who are often multimilion companies like EA Ubisoft and other well known failures).

As for the people leaving, I believe the people that will leave are making the overall community better. This is not the usual MMO game and anyone expecting handholding and grinding associated with such is not gonna find it here.

It is true that they have done things rather professional, especially in comparison to those evil awkward heretic companies you mentioned. I do feel that if they had waited till next Christmas it could have been an even bigger and better game. Especially the multiplayer feature is something that's really missing atm. Apparently it will be fixed around early 2015 and wings will basically be what private group is supposed to be. (At least from my perspective)

 

[benkei]

I have fun playing... and I like turtles!

 

[starjump]

They had a lot of time to work on it, and they didn't have to release it unfinished. I don't have my hopes up. I think the gameplay is what it is. Planetary landing and walking around space stations won't change the core mechanics of the game.

"They didnt have to release it unfinished". And what do you about what they need and dont need to do? Do you understand how much money it takes to make a big game? Do you understand that there are people working at Frontier that all need a paycheck? Do you understand that the offices they work in has rent? These are a few of the reasons to why games has to be released early - because they need to pay the developers, pay rent and pay off loans. And when they sell the product they get money, and for that money they continue to develop the product as they now have funds to keep going. I dont know Frontiers economical situation, i have a few friends though running game studios and this is how it often works.
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Im confident Frontier will expand ED. They have 2 expansions that are being developed and in between those im sure we will see updates with enhancements. Since they arent a triple A company with billions of dollars and 500 developers they have to do what they can. And with this in mind it hurts their development when impatient people keep screaming how crap the game is and that they will tell everyone they know not to buy it, and they are people that want ED to be a great game... If people that think ED isnt done yet calm down a bit and play something else for the time being, and Frontier gets in more money so they can keep going then im positive we will see improvements and expansions. If everyone shoots down smaller developer companies by smack talking them then all we have is the shallow shiny boring triple A games like Call of Duty and other pile of poo games. Realize that Frontier have a great base here, and with further development it can turn into something great.

 

[beelbeebub]

It is true that they have done things rather professional, especially in comparison to those evil awkward heretic companies you mentioned. I do feel that if they had waited till next Christmas it could have been an even bigger and better game. Especially the multiplayer feature is something that's really missing atm. Apparently it will be fixed around early 2015 and wings will basically be what private group is supposed to be. (At least from my perspective)

If FD had waited another 6 months/year then the product would be more polished and have more features. However, we would have to wait another year to play!
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As it is I think that ED in 6months/year will have the same features as ED is they had waited the same time frame, then released. In other words, other than some hoopla about launch, I don't think the pace of development is going to change.
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Given the change in 6 months from the start of PB to now, the game in 6 months time should have a load more features and polish.

 

[Tinman]

Improvements are coming, but saying it is impossible is inaccurate.

I have met up and fought with other players on several occasions.

You can also enter other people's USS by following them in their wake(no wake scanner needed for this), it IS a bit unreliable at the moment though.

So it is multiplayer but improvements are needed AND they are planned and coming "soon".

The sky isn't falling.

 

[Hexcaliber]

Procedurally generated means that there are rules defined on how things can be created randomly. So it is not chaotic random, but it is still random. Handcrafting systems takes a lot longer. After you've discovered 5 star systems in Elite, you are kind of bored with them. In the end they are all kind the same only slightly different looking.

Yes but the randomisation only occurs once, when creating the system before committing it to the game database, all 400 billion of them, and despite using hash codes the database will be of considerable size. Having been generated and stored, thereafter the number is fixed, everyone gets the same number, every time, and the objects it describes and their relationships are identical each time the system is recreated. They may also use procedural textures on planets and so on and those will look slightly different, but for all intents, everyone is getting the same system, every time they enter it. If they did not, it would cause mayhem trying to group up or play against others in the same system as all the points of reference such as stations, resource extraction etc. are not in the same place.

I used 256 bit hash reference as a wild guess, the number is possibly larger still, but let us assume I got lucky and it is 256 bit, for 400 billions systems that is 102400000000000 Bits and all of it has to be stored somewhere, then add in storage describing every cmdr and his inventory and all the market data that we know we all share.

 

[Daeron]

The game is going to die ! OMG we are all going to die !

We are all doomed by default, better to spend energy on what we have, and not on what we will never get.

 

[Tolerance]

There is still no REAL multiplayer. The only thing you can do together is flying arround at supercruise and meet in front of stations. There is NO possibility to make an ingame-group. There is no way to fight together, there is even no way to fly together to the same unidentified singal. Its sad. It should be able to interact more than only chat with each other. There is no way to trade with players either. WHY?

There is NO possibility to make ingame groups: - No, but you can meet up at pre-aranged places.
There is no way to fight together: - Yes there is, drop into the same place in deep space together, and you can.
There is even no way to fly together to the same USS: - Yes there is, 1 drops in, other(s) drop in on his wake.
Its sad: - You are indeed if you dont get your fact right before whining.
It should be able to interact more then only chat with each other: - It is, although Comms seem broken to me, could be me doing something wrong.
There is no way to trade with players either: - Yes there is, just take's bit more time then you might want to invest.


Pretty pretty please, get your facts right before moaning.
It might not all be the easiest way to do, but you real want the easiest way out in a game?
Buy the game, have instant elite status in all 3 ranks, all ships fully equipped, and credits in a number that wont even fit on your screen?
Go play tetris, and tell them, the blocks dont fit.

 

[Bigcheese]

I've been to Lugh and Sorbago during "events" (civil wars etc) and have never seen more then 1 other player at a time.

Whatever system they are using, it needs work. This feels like a single player game currently.

 

[devastat]

Yes but the randomisation only occurs once, when creating the system before committing it to the game database, all 400 billion of them, and despite using hash codes the database will be of considerable size. Having been generated and stored, thereafter the number is fixed, everyone gets the same number, every time, and the objects it describes and their relationships are identical each time the system is recreated.

Yes, but the point of the discussion was that the star systems are procedurally generated, and thus cannot be as detailed as they would be if crafted by design. Randomizing it for every gameplay, or only one time to be consistent for all players makes no difference.

I used 256 bit hash reference as a wild guess, the number is possibly larger still, but let us assume I got lucky and it is 256 bit, for 400 billions systems that is 102400000000000 Bits and all of it has to be stored somewhere, then add in storage describing every cmdr and his inventory and all the market data that we know we all share.

The whole point of using procedural generation is that the data doesn't have to be stored anywhere.

 

[sugar minner]

this game needs to be MMO

if this game does not go MMO it will be dead in under 2 years as games like star citizan will kill it.
frontier plz take note of whats going on in the games world or face an early death.

 

[Sideman]

Thanks

So, there are many answers, i am sorry, that i cant comment everyone^^

At first: Maybe i was a little too rough, so there are some aggressions. But if i dont scream, nobody hears... If somebody is angry about that, i am sorry but i am not resposible of your feelings . I just wanted to point out an important feature, wich is planned (what i knew) i wrote that in my first post. But its still missing. I am sure that the develop-team is doing its best, but maybe sometimes they need to focus on the important things.

To the wake-thing. I didnt even know that it is possible to follow another player this way, i will test it as soon as i can, thank you for the note

To the trade-thing. how does it work? i havent found anything about that, a link would help. Goods are stolen if i drop them and my buddy scope them arent they? And how can i transfer credits?

To the whining-thing some said (not directly but with other words) if i dont like it, i should not play it. To be clear: I like the game so far. And thats why i am writing in a forum, maybe to help that the potenzial of the game is used and not wasted.

Ok, there are some multiplayer-features which are working with improvisation. But they arent like that, how they are planned (i hope). I had to start a post in the forum to get aware of the wake-thing and im pretty sure im not the only one. Think about it.

Maybe this improvisation-thing has to do with the release-thing, but i dont want to talk about that, it happend, and there is nothing they can do about it if they want or not^^.

So far. Thanks to the dev-team for their work. Thanks to the players who are so "experenced" . And have nice holidays.

 

[Vandyl]

if this game does not go MMO it will be dead in under 2 years as games like star citizan will kill it.
frontier plz take note of whats going on in the games world or face an early death.

OMG the sky is falling…it already is an MMO, just not an MMORPG. Don't like it, go play Star Citizen….oh wait

 

[devastat]

OMG the sky is falling…it already is an MMO, just not an MMORPG. Don't like it, go play Star Citizen….oh wait

Is it really a MMO? a massively multiplayer online video game which is capable of supporting large numbers of players simultaneously.

 

[Commander SQQUARE]

There is still no REAL multiplayer. The only thing you can do together is flying arround at supercruise and meet in front of stations. There is NO possibility to make an ingame-group. There is no way to fight together, there is even no way to fly together to the same unidentified singal. Its sad. It should be able to interact more than only chat with each other. There is no way to trade with players either. WHY?

THIS GAME WILL DIE IF YOU DONT MAKE THIS POSSIBLE, ITS EVEN MORE IMPORTANT THAN WALKING ON STATIONS OR LAND ON PLANETS!

Its still impossible to play this game really together. Maybe just like you can play skyrim together. You can just talk about it, thats all...

Gamers, players, commanders HEAR MY CALL: RISE your voice! Show Frontier that YOU want a game where you can really fly together and interact. Just copy, paste and post below:
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Dear Frontier,
please fix this, please dont let Elite die! Please hurry and implement REAL multiplayer interaction!
Thank you.
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Just to show them thats important. I know there are plans, but there where plans at the beginning and until this point, there is nearly no happening.

CMDR Sideman.

(Ps: Sorry for mistakes, english is not my native languague)

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JUST ABOUT WHAT?! ayy lmao, i think you should play the game for more than 5 minutes before complaining on the forums. as you obviously have absolutely no clue.