Convince me to buy ED ... a challenge!

[Miimis Maks]

Please don't think I haven't bothered to research the game, cos I have, I should have got involved in the Kick Starter, I watched some beta game-play footage on You Tube, I found this place: http://firstgreatexpedition.org/mybb/index.php when I googled 'Elite Dangerous Communities', looks like an epic single player game, but very linear. The last single player game I played was Skyrim, which at least had a varying environment to explore - great game though, but once I completed the questline, and I made everything I needed, never played it again.

Yes. Everything is great, except gameplay.. its lacking.

Hope to be able to say a big yes at +3/+6 months etc

+

 

[Cereal Killer]

These types of threads are unfortunately becoming more prevalent largely due to the fact that educational institutions don't necessarily teach people how to think as much as they encourage rote memorization. It's not his fault, it's the system to blame. But yea, I too believe you are capable of forming your own opinion just fine, try it... you can do eeet!

 

[Y2K]

ive always gone Open play... got blown up once in my hauler but had insurance covered... its not so much of a problem now im in a 14+ million ASP ^_^

 

[CMDR Sickie]

Don't buy it if you value your sleep

 

[Kitiara]

Please don't think I haven't bothered to research the game, cos I have, I should have got involved in the Kick Starter

If you believe that, what's the question mark over getting involved now?

, I watched some beta game-play footage on You Tube, I found this place: http://firstgreatexpedition.org/mybb/index.php when I googled 'Elite Dangerous Communities', looks like an epic single player game, but very linear.

Linear is about the worst word you could use to describe Elite: Dangerous. You're handed a ship, a few credits, and a huge playground to play in. There's no linear storyline, there's things happening all over the place. Not at a huge pace, but steadily. You choose whether to get involved or not. I see you found my group's website. We're a group that tends towards exploration as our main choice of activity. Not to say we don't do other things. But look at what I've done in the past week of playing

1. Mission runing for the Empire
2. Trading in a Cobra Mk III
3. Refitted the cobra for long range exploration and spent 3 days on a trip of over 4,000 Light years, through multiple nebulae, visiting star clusters, dark regions and supermassive stars.
4. Bought a viper and spent time hunting pirates in conjunction with friends from the group
5. Trading in a Lakon type 7
6. Acquired ranks in both the Imperial and Federal systems.

I'd say the game is very varied. I didn't even touch the several storylines that have happened during that time.

The last single player game I played was Skyrim, which at least had a varying environment to explore - great game though, but once I completed the questline, and I made everything I needed, never played it again.

And here you come to the crux of it all. This game has no linear storyline. There's no linear journey to complete, nothing to finish.

Life before Death
Strength before Weakness
Journey before Destination

Not words belonging to the Elite universe, but the 3rd part of the first ideal exemplifies Elite perfectly

Journey before Destination​

It's not what you achieve that marks Elite: Dangerous. It's what you experience on the way there.

 

[Alric]

Random multiplayer is rare unless you're looking hard, but you do have the option of joining or forming private groups and cooperating for system influence, war zones etc.
We're expecting support for this sort of thing to be improved massively in the new year, and that might be a good time to buy.

In other regards you sound like you might be a good fit. If you liked the originals then that's a good start. The large scale, high commitment multiplayer of a EVE or WoW is not what this game's about so you're good there. By far the biggest problem with the game right now is many of the features haven't been fleshed out yet so people can see a lack of long-term content. But if you're just starting from zero, and are looking at 10-15 hours per week then by the time you reach that stage, chances are a lot of the more advanced stuff will be in.

So I'd say check back in a month or so, see how the multiplayer looks when wings are in, and find a like-minded group. Then jump in - if you're starting fresh and playing modererately, you'll get a lot of enjoyment for £35.

 

[sqzbox1]

Glad my attempt at irony didn't upset you. I think it is the tone of your OP that causes the "don't buy" posts, along with the inconsistencies - which are: you like the original but want PvP in a big way (maybe not a dealbreaker but ...) and you seem to think it is expensive. This is likely to cause a degree of defensiveness in the responders don't you think? Look - it is still a sandbox, the events going on are no stronger than they were in the original (which was weak even then - which was acceptable at the time BTW)), and some playability is a bit lacking compared to other modern games (I'm thinking of chat and other team play options here). But holy moly, what you get for 40 quid is amazing really. Just don't expect it to be more than a 70/100 game right now and you will be happy - but the future is VERY bright - in my opinion. Like a lot of things in life, it will never be any cheaper than it is RIGHT NOW.

Go on - do it - you know you want to!

 

[wrolfe]

The game is beautiful but as beautiful as it is, it is also very empty, there are not even pilots sitting in other ships… You look into a ship window and it is empty as are the stations. The only person you will see is you, forever glued to your pilot chair, occasionally wringing a wrist to regain circulation – the sum part of your player animation.

The other problem or joy depending on your mind set and if you have an obsessive-compulsive personality (as I do) is that to get the big ships and the nice upgrades you must grind, you must go to work and you must work those fingers to the bone .
After the Asp, the ships and their relevant upgrades and insurance skyrockets through the preverbal roof but they look nice and I am personally aiming for the Lakon 9 because it reminds me of the Nostromo.

Another thing to suggest is to visit the Facebook page of this game but fair warning, the player demographic and their general psychology is interesting as it is depressing. The community is not too friendly, the newbies when asking a question will very often be spammed with insults, and nothing will be done about it.

That knowledge should also give you an idea of what to expect when you venture into open play – in deep space are many who will kill you simply for the pleasure of knowing you did not enjoy it because in killing you, you also lose money and sometimes lots of it.

As a grinder, losing money because of another player is never fun.

In summary and though a generalisation (sorry) I have met some nice people in this game you would be best served by expecting players you meet to be unhelpful, rude and generally unfriendly enough to want to blow you to bits even if you have an empty hold.

I strongly suggest you stick to Solo play until you have grinded (sic) enough money to buy the ship you want and the upgrades you will need to adequately defend yourself from the many out there who will want to see you burn because the newer you are the more you will be attacked.

I have seen this twice already and I do not even go open play that often (as I like to grind credits without having to watch over my shoulder).

Many thanks for the reply. By far the most useful. Ive done plenty of grinding in my time in other games (perhaps when I had more time) so I could do a little more I think. However, your general comments on the state of the community have already been verified by some of the replies.

 

[Deleted member 38366]

-- Deleted --

 

[n13L5]

I'm not in the mood to convince you. I haven't been able to log into the game and it looks like my character is borked.

Loitering on the forums turned up no solutions but a lot of other issues pointing to poor networking and transaction code.

- transaction failures causing people to loose large amounts of credits
- transaction failures blocking people's cargo holds with ghost cargo
- Explorers needing to get moved back to starter areas and loosing all ranks gained in the process
- far too frequent match maker and arbitration server failures
- people's accounts becoming inaccessible, making them unable to log in.
- half of the promised game features missing


I hope by the end of January, I'd be able to tell you that the bugs are fixed and they are progressing well in implementing the promised features.
If that comes about, I'll be the first in line to tell you to get it.


The foundation for a good game is there. The milky way. Space modeled after reality. After all, there is nothing more fantastic than reality.

My recommendation? If bugs bug you, wait till later to buy it. If you're super relaxed about it and don't mind the potential of suddenly having to start over, or waiting days on end for tech support to even get you back in the game, you can get it now.

I think they should have to show some definite improvements to earn the reward of more sales on this rushed out game.

 

[starman]

more women commanders would be good not just those who play as female

 

[wrolfe]

These types of threads are unfortunately becoming more prevalent largely due to the fact that educational institutions don't necessarily teach people how to think as much as they encourage rote memorization. It's not his fault, it's the system to blame. But yea, I too believe you are capable of forming your own opinion just fine, try it... you can do eeet!

Aha! I do a lot of thinking, in fact, I work in the space industry as an engineer mainly 'thinking', and yes I can form my own opinion, but you know what....part of that process is gathering information from all sources, and after the articles and reviews I read, and after some you tube vids, I came here for that little bit extra. A chance for those who play to tell me about the game (I thought it was a good move - I'm not always right).

 

[Muthax]

http://www.pcgamer.com/elite-dangerous-review/

it's an honest review, it will tell you if the game is for you or not
But if you need convincing maybe wait till they implement "wings" in a month or two

 

[DraigUK]

Heh, PvP is certainly not a deal breaker, some player interaction might be. I am surprised by the number of 'don't buy it' responses, cos it would seem...I have already been branded a potential moaner! I can afford the 40 quid, its still more than I have played for a game in a very long time, feels odd forking the money out up front these days, and I never play on consoles so avoid the costs there also. I honestly thought that not ONE reply would suggest I didn't buy the game. It seems that a few a very protective of the game they have purchased, and invested in, perhaps since the kick stater campaign, I didnt expect that either!

You need to understand a few things about the community since release.

1 - There's a large number of players who played the original, have been playing/testing 6-12 months and have seen the game develop from early days. In addition they (and I'm one of them) have seen all the plans of what it should have been at release, and what was actually released. Overall, for me, while it is a great game, I've seen it get dumbed down and simplified from what we seen in Beta and where it was meant to go, to what we have now. I understand in most instances why it is so, and also understand it will get a lot better given some time. That doesn't change the fact for me that it is a lot less than what was aimed for right now. The biggest disappointment is what you seem to crave, which is the group and social aspect. In a word, the multiplayer aspect, which is currently lacking by quite some margin, in my opinion. However I also believe that in the next few months this will be sorted out.

2- New players come in and a large number of them are used to dumbed down spoon fed tosh that we have generally seen released over the last few years in particular. This group expects ED to be much the same, and in my opinion have had a negative impact on the game with a lot of forum posts wanting changes that will change the game from Elite into just another spoon fed piece of trash. They seem to want WoW in space. So a lot of forum posts are along those lines and get very tiresome. Some make good points but the majority go along the lines of "This game sucks" & "I got killed, game is broken" sort of thing. The reality is for 99% of the posts along those lines that I've seen, it is the players own fault that they died, or were otherwise adversely affected, due to lack of understanding of how the game works. The saddest thing of all is that the devs have responded and dumbed the game down seemingly in response to this sort of drivel. So for me the game is currently less than what it should have been and devs have started making some bad decisions in response to forum whine. We shall see what happens in the New Year and if they tune it back up, and start putting into the game what should have been in for release.

3- This is currently primarily a solo game with some (basic) multiplayer tacked on to it. It's also a heavily PvE game, and I think will always be so. PvP isn't an issue at all currently. Either you play in Solo or Group mode and don't see any of it at all, or even in Open play it is very, very difficult to instigate any player killing, Pirating, Bounty Hunting, or anything else, against anyone other than total noobs, as it is so easy to avoid it or escape. You will occasionally have some PvP against someone else who is willing, but be under no illusions, if they know what they are doing and do not wish to PvP there is nothing you can do about it. Anyone saying they got ganked, griefed, killed, or anything else is just a noob and without a clue how to play. Which is why said things have happened to them.

4- There is next to no griefing in this game, (see point 3) because it is impossible to do it. It is also the only community I have ever seen in the last 20 years that abuses that term to mean just about everything it does not, and this has been the case since Beta.

So, with that background, and the fact that most people on the forums and in the community are a pretty honest bunch, even if they have totally conflicting viewpoints to my own, based on your original post, most people will be upfront and tell you to wait until Wings is released, or give it a few months before buying.

Which overall, I find reassuring and refreshing in a community, it doesn't happen often in gaming communities, as either they are rabid fans, or total trash talkers, with a smattering of overzealous forum mods.
You don't get so much of that here, although you do get some of it. Overall, people will just say what they think, and you need to take from it what you can.

I'd advise you to do the same with this post.

 

[gamecat]

Aha! I do a lot of thinking, in fact, I work in the space industry as an engineer mainly 'thinking', and yes I can form my own opinion, but you know what....part of that process is gathering information from all sources, and after the articles and reviews I read, and after some you tube vids, I came here for that little bit extra. A chance for those who play to tell me about the game (I thought it was a good move - I'm not always right).

Have no idea what Cereal Killer is on about. Critical thinking pervades education, from my experience.

Just buy it, your job must make you a pretty penny, £35 is hardly going to break the bank.

 

[Soulstain]

I would suggest you don't buy it at this point.
You seem to have some confusion as to the type of game this is. Heck, I've been around since Beta and I'm still not sure!

The forums will only confuse you unless you can read between the lines. Meaning there are two sides to every story and somewhere in the middle is the truth. If you've been reading the threads you can see the common point of contention.

If you played the original I would assume you will like it but you are asking and saying things that would indicate that you are expecting much more then what you remember.

If you need constant pvp I believe you will be disappointed. If you think this is in any way a traditional MMO you are going to be disappointed. If you require human interaction and structured co-op play, you are going to be disappointed at this point.

On the other hand if you like the freedom to fly around the universe looking at stars and planets. You will enjoy it.
If you like doing some very basic missions given to you via a bulletin board (meaning no interaction with NPC's), you will enjoy it.
If you can play for hours role playing your own adventures in your head, you will enjoy it.
If you require no introduction to the game world of any kind such as opening cinematic story or readable intro then you will enjoy it.
If you want a sim that is not too sim like (meaning more arcade like then flight sim ) then you will like it.

Only you can answer those questions and of course these are only my opinions of the game at this point. I enjoy it for what it is but I treat it like I'm playing in Alpha not release. It has too many of what I feel are placeholder mechanics at this point. Others think they have died and gone to heaven. To each their own.

 

[johnUK]

I think it's great, I started playing in Feb/march.
Multi player stuff is lacking a bit if you're wanting to do missions with friends. I think most people use Skype/teamviewer for communication.
Can be in a self made group if you want to avoid strangers, also a group called Möbius you can join that bans people killing people.

 

[Druid]

The game is by no means perfect as a multiplayer space sim, yet. It is great fun though and it is certainly Elite.

Expensive , IMHO , no . I have no idea how much it is but from the posts it must be about 35-40 quid, no subscription fee and literally hours of gameing to be had even in the current state. Compare that to your average consol game that has a life of tens of hours to reach end game and I think ED even in its current itteration is almost a give away.

 

[Heathy]

lets face it if you want to interact with other players (which looked to be the most important point in the OP) then i would simply wait for the wings update because right now you could remove the multiplayer aspect and for the most part it wouldn't make a difference at all. apparently its possible to end up at the same places with ppl but the actual interaction is minimal at best.

i've said it before in other threads, the game looks great and sounds great and feels great, it just needs more meat on its bones. to me it plays like an open ended freespace 2 with trading and exploration, you can fight you can trade you can explore space, but you can't make anything you can't 'group up' properly you can't trade or share money / assets with other players. if you do missions one person gets the reward, if you want to share the reward you'll have to drop cans of goods and manually scoop them. I don't think the combat scales so a team of ppl will breeze through any content, npcs will fall like flies against a team of ppl.

 

[Dremx]

I wanted to add my two cents. I heard about this game from a coworker a few days back. I bought this game without reading anything about it beforehand. So as an actual new person to the genre and franchise I can honestly say it was worth the price, hands down. I am flat out addicted to this game and have met players from both sides of the spectrum. Some are helpful and fun, others try to ram you with their ship and get in your line of fire just so they have the right to kill you. And then there's the forum community which trumps the randoms you meet in the galaxy. If the player base scared you just do meet ups and groups with people on the forums they are wicked awesome people.