Full release has turned out to be the worst gaming experience I've ever had...

[Jagax]

Us customers are unfortunately not their only concern. They are not in business just to make us happy. They have investors to satisfy and must consider their financial position first.

We can't second-guess their decision because we don't have all the info. But if you're going to try you must at least consider their position and not just focus on how it impacted you as a customer. Their insistence on releasing before the end of the year is understandable: the schedule had slipped once already and they had made the commitment to both the market and their investors to do it.

True, there are reasons why they have done as they have and for the most part a great release BUT this thing about always cutting them (developers/producers) slack for releasing unfinished product they expect people to pay for while they fix it is, to put it simply, bad.
While still in beta and gamma phase I let everything pass, it was in a testing phase.
It was their choice to release a week before the holidays and whatever their reasons, it was their choice and they of course have to face the consequences of that choice.
One of those consequences is of course some extremely annoyed customers who don't get the support to use the product they have paid for.

 

[n13L5]

If a procedurally generated system is causing a disconnect then it will likely remain undetected until someone creates a ticket to report the problem. The more people that head out there and find them, the better for future explorers.

So you're saying it will take 400 billion support tickets to fix this.

This could be a while then, I guess...

 

[bkeresztes]

Same problem here, although I'm still about 10k ly from the core systems, but got stuck in hyperspace. Put up a ticket, but I guess I'll have to wait for the response until January. It's a shame, If I had known this is an issue I d stayed in the colonized systems
If someone from support sees this: I'm fine with the solution of putting me back to a station, I could play at least, and I'll wait with my pilgrimage until this thing is fixed (#14635).

 

[n13L5]

True, there are reasons why they have done as they have and for the most part a great release BUT this thing about always cutting them (developers/producers) slack for releasing unfinished product they expect people to pay for while they fix it is, to put it simply, bad.
While still in beta and gamma phase I let everything pass, it was in a testing phase.
It was their choice to release a week before the holidays and whatever their reasons, it was their choice and they of course have to face the consequences of that choice.
One of those consequences is of course some extremely annoyed customers who don't get the support to use the product they have paid for.

Yep, can't log into my account either, or I wouldn't even be loitering on the forums Was so close to getting a Python - to never have to see that awful Lakon Type 7 again ><.

 

[melnificent]

Is it not possible to load a different save or character slot? Or do you only get one

 

[Morebread]

I think the release was rushed, it was stupid to release a week before Christmas if you are not going to have 24/7 support for the first 6 weeks after release you deserve to crash and burn. You certainly don't deserve to be cut any slack by the paying customers if you cant supply a working product and have support in place.

We didn't pay for a almost working might get fixed at some point product did we? what would you do if you purchased a car that didn't start and had one wheel missing on delivery? Its about time companies realize that the customers are what allows them to have a company/profits/share price and it is not "whats the barest minimum we can get away with at a product launch" and how much can we claw back in presales and first weekend of release before ever one realizes its broken.

Do I sound bitter? well I am I have not been able to log on for more than 2-5 minutes before the game drops out when will that be fixed? after the new year maybe? or will I have to listen to a load of its your connection its your router, its your pc, and wait weeks for a fix. I am thinking it would be easier just to refund and not deal with all the ok not a great loss to Frontier £200 but do they deserve any customer loyalty from me?

 

[Rock-Hermit]

I think the release was rushed, it was stupid to release a week before Christmas if you are not going to have 24/7 support for the first 6 weeks after release you deserve to crash and burn. You certainly don't deserve to be cut any slack by the paying customers if you cant supply a working product and have support in place.

We didn't pay for a almost working might get fixed at some point product did we? what would you do if you purchased a car that didn't start and had one wheel missing on delivery? Its about time companies realize that the customers are what allows them to have a company/profits/share price and it is not "whats the barest minimum we can get away with at a product launch" and how much can we claw back in presales and first weekend of release before ever one realizes its broken.

Do I sound bitter? well I am I have not been able to log on for more than 2-5 minutes before the game drops out when will that be fixed? after the new year maybe? or will I have to listen to a load of its your connection its your router, its your pc, and wait weeks for a fix. I am thinking it would be easier just to refund and not deal with all the ok not a great loss to Frontier £200 but do they deserve any customer loyalty from me?

This.

They were happy to release before xmas as its more money and more sales. But where is the game support to go with it? You said it, any company worth its salt would have 24/7 support for the first few weeks after any launch. Hell they made enough money from backers to pay overtime.

What has happened here is an utter disgrace. Bugs that not only highlight that the game is fundamentally flawed, 400 billion stars my ***, but customer support thinks travelling 20000 light years is a walk in the park and thinks nothing of sending players back? and in the process also wipes out everything it had? What sort of customer service doesn't even check up on what its doing, or done?

What was the point of a full year long alpha, beta, and gamma process for if not to make sure players at the very least could play the game come release week?

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

Is it not possible to load a different save or character slot? Or do you only get one

Only one character per account. So if its stuck or won't load in, you don't play until frontier get around to fixing it for you.

 

[RedWizzard]

We didn't pay for a almost working might get fixed at some point product did we? what would you do if you purchased a car that didn't start and had one wheel missing on delivery? Its about time companies realize that the customers are what allows them to have a company/profits/share price and it is not "whats the barest minimum we can get away with at a product launch" and how much can we claw back in presales and first weekend of release before ever one realizes its broken.

I understand your frustration, but please realise you're not paying anywhere near what really high quality code would cost. Look at the cost of most business software: it's an order of magnitude more for far simpler systems. Cheap or bug-free: pick one.

 

[DarkWalker]

I understand your frustration, but please realise you're not paying anywhere near what really high quality code would cost. Look at the cost of most business software: it's an order of magnitude more for far simpler systems. Cheap or bug-free: pick one.

Sincerely, that is one of the worst defenses of a released product I've ever saw. What you said is only (somewhat) valid when there's just one person or entity footing the bill; when it's a product expected to sell in the hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, that defense is invalid from the start, since the cost of making the product bug-free is spread across all purchasers.

Besides, who would defend a game by saying "it's bugged, yes, what did you expect?"

 

[MACMAN86]

Now then, if there are mods available to simply moderate our threads then there MUST be an official FD rep to step in at time of launching their released product to say of "known errors" to warn us away from such issues. This is NOT acceptable even during a holiday period when all it takes is mods to pass on the info to get a quick responce. Disgraceful!

 

[Morebread]

I understand your frustration, but please realise you're not paying anywhere near what really high quality code would cost. Look at the cost of most business software: it's an order of magnitude more for far simpler systems. Cheap or bug-free: pick one.

You are joking? all I have to say is

Elite: Dangerous backers reached approximately 100,000 backers and £6.0m raised.

Pasted from http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail/12072514.html

So £6.0m in the bank and cant even afford enough servers and 24/7 support.

 

[Rock-Hermit]

Morebread its a disgrace. They gladly took our money and then went on a weeks holiday a few days after they released a broken product to the masses.

Complete and utter disgrace. I feel really guilty because I talked two friends into buying elite for xmas, and neither of them can play and their tickets suddenly go unanswered now they're wanting refunds. What am I supposed to tell them? Hold on until the New Year? maybe a month? Possibly February?

 

[Morebread]

I feel your pain I paid for:
2 beta accounts
2 HOTAS
2 edtrackers
2 voice attack
2 logitech g13
all sitting doing nothing because cant stay connected for more than 2 mins I just happy I haven't ordered new pc or monitors I would have been really upset then.

It is incredibly stupid to launch a networked always on product just before Christmas and then take a holiday, upset the customers who you expect to be selling expansion packs to (all the stuff you couldn't get in the game in time for an Xmas release) in the future.

What kind of business model is that ? If I was a shareholder I would be asking questions about the competence of management. Luckily I'm not.

Im old enough to know better, I do really feel sorry for anyone who was looking forward to playing this Xmas, its very frustrating, more so when you don't get any acknowledgment from the support dept even just a quick one liner to say that they are aware of the problems and are looking into it would be enough, but nothing? just more bad management. People are far more understanding if you are honest with them, the way the support issues have been handled is pathetic. not the way to build a brand or customer loyalty. and when the metacritic score drops below 50 anmd sales stop whose fault will that be?

 

[n13L5]

Hi Erimus,

got one question: how does the "not being able to log back in" express itself? Are you getting stuck on the spinning ship screen, or the "loading game" screen, or already in the launcher?

 

[Chuck Wow]

If a procedurally generated system is causing a disconnect then it will likely remain undetected until someone creates a ticket to report the problem. The more people that head out there and find them, the better for future explorers.

It definitely sucks for the pioneers like yourself though.

Well, as they say, "The pioneers take the arrows"

 

[Zulu Romeo]

The thread's OP has been a heartbreakingly sad read. While the forum software tells me I have to wait, positive Rep for the OP for giving it your all. I'm really sorry to hear about your experiences, Erimus.

I don't think they were previously visited systems. Only one other player has been to the core (and that was pre-release during gamma) and although he got constant disconnects the deeper into the core he went he was able to get here because he was able to log back in and continue. So something post-release has made things worse as now when you're disconnected you can't log back in. Game support has to get your ticket then physically move your ship to a new location - then you can log in. Then it happens again, rinse and repeat.

I was that other player who got to the Core and had frequent disconnects as well as performance-related frame dropping and slowdown in the core region, when I visited the place in Gamma 1.04. I had maybe a ten or fifteen minute period where I would get nothing but server disconnects after entering hyperspace, but by chance by jumping a few LYs short of my maximum possible range, it would connect again. It wasn't consistent, though, and I am certain there were some systems that could never be reached at all due to server kicks, one of them for me being the physically closest system to Sagittarius A*. At the time I also sent FD a bunch of tickets and info about my experiences, but I don't know how much was taken on board.

Yet my experiences seemed nowhere near as harsh as yours as I could indeed restart from my last known safe space position without penalty, for the most part. It really does sound like something has changed significantly since Gamma 1.0x. Whether it's an intended thing so that FD can have more time to create something wonderful in terms of features or handcoded content, or it's a drastic response to my own adventures there (it sounds like my Core trip has been something of a thorn in FD's side of late, judging by certain patch announcements) that somehow went wrong or developed a serious flaw, it all doesn't seem right.

Maybe it's because of these frustrations, both my own experiences and those of others, but it's going to be a long while before I will want to revisit the Galactic Centre again. Which is a shame, as from what I saw much of it was wondrous, terrifying, exciting, and even beautiful.

 

[n13L5]

Kind of interesting that some Cmdrs feel the need to rush off and find/explore core systems and some rush off to find the edges of the known universe? I have stayed in a researched system not far from my spawn point, and got to know the trade routes around 20 systems inside out. Explored virtually all systems around them and when I fancied a change went bounty hunting in several of the anarchic systems. Got 3 Million credits and four ships with top of the line modules! I've been to Sol a couple of times to figure out the route planning and to date no issues/broken systems? I think sometimes that others are playing a completely different game to me? Will go exploring and go to core systems, but when I am ready!

And what exactly is your point?

That your way of futzing around the neighborhood is more 'correct' and 'proper' than him jamming down towards the center of the galaxy?

After all, that's the big advertisement for this game: explore the full galaxy of 400 billion stars.

If someone sets up a 300k Zorgon hauler with fuel scoop and 31 LY jump range, are you saying there's something wrong with wanting to specialize in exploration rather than being a truck driver helping lifeless NPC stations with their supplies??

Truth be told, I didn't do it anything better than you, just trading in a few systems. But at least I don't have an attitude about it, like my way is the right way...

"some Commanders feel the need to rush off" is such a nasty way to say it, it basically implies an unhealthy compulsion.

Hey, people are meant to do what each of them feel like. Exploration is one of the three main professions in Elite. I hope to soon go find the Delta Quadrant and the Klingon empire. Still waiting for a cube shaped station lit in green, with even more harsh and metallic sounding announcements than all the other stations.

 

[n13L5]

I understand your frustration, but please realise you're not paying anywhere near what really high quality code would cost. Look at the cost of most business software: it's an order of magnitude more for far simpler systems. Cheap or bug-free: pick one.

Your previous comment in this thread was astute, but this one shows that you are apparently missing in your mind the concept that mass market software is a totally different animal from custom corporate solutions. There are tons of reasonably priced mass market products that are supremely stable with very few bugs. So don't use corporate business software to defend the indefensible

I have played a LOT of multiplayer games, and not one of them has ever lost or corrupted my character data for ANY reason.

They might have been buggy as hell in many respects, but of all frustrations a game can offer, loosing access to the game, because your server transaction code isn't written carefully enough to prevent corruption of your customers' characters and progress is the most major thing you can screw up, even before loss of credits from bad transactions, which this game also does.

Matter of fact, the transaction failures and account corruption most likely stem from the same flawed transaction code. And the fuel bug stemming from this very issue has been a reported, known issue since Beta 3.

Bug-fix prioritization failure.

And this turns the 12,000 Pound competition into a joke, with one person being locked out of the game for weeks with a corrupt account save, while others are lucky enough to be able to continue playing.

 

[MARPATdroid]

The worst game launch I ever experienced was Battlefield 4... Servers crashed every 10 minutes, errors in the graphical code caused BSODs all over the place. If you had SLI or Crossfire set ups you couldn't even launch the game. EA's fix was to drop the DirectX 11 feature set for Dx9. It was a terrible launch.

Elite Dangrous, was an awesome launch, no problems with the servers. The game is very playable, and works for most people. Sure there are a few outlying conflicts with some people, but it is pretty smooth for most people. None of my friends that I play with have had any problems, unlike BF4 where everyone I played with had issues.

 

[jockmcplop]

I bought ED a week after launch.
My experience so far:
Log in, take mission get disconnected log in get disconnected watch TV lose rep for abandoning mission delete save start again and repeat.

4-5 times now.
Figure i'll just wait till its finished. I didn't pay to be a beta tester, i just wanted the game :/