Persistent NPC's - what happened?

Trader Pat

Trader Pat
Globusdiablo said:
Just had a quick read here:

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7494

So the groundwork was there. Tier characters were created. Goals were internally set and approved. What happened?
Click to expand...

THIS is what is sorely missing now. Some features have been added, some fixes done (still quite a lot to do though...), but content is way lacking. Persistent NPCs and more interesting missions would do well in rekindling my interest in ED. I am sure quite a few other CMDRs feel the same.

I hope that 1.3 Power Play is finally addressing the lack of content. Looking at the decreasing numbers of people online in the forums, it IS needed.
 

Mufus

M
Globusdiablo said:
Just had a quick read here:

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7494

So the groundwork was there. Tier characters were created. Goals were internally set and approved. What happened?
Click to expand...

Currently everything is Tier 3 with no promotion to Tier 2. There is pretty much nothing changeable but persistent other than arbitrary stock levels / prices and faction percentages.

My guess is that FD had to release ED as a flight simulator first, game later. A development roadmap would be nice, much better than arbitrary "patch titles"... :D
 

RoadRunner

R
The DDF was never intended to be a list of features that would make it into the game; it was simply a discussion board set up so that FD could assess ideas from the backers about what we wanted and test the waters regarding what they had in mind for the game mechanics. Sure, some of the stuff on there will be coming in future releases, but a lot of it is pure pie in the sky as far as ever making it into the game goes if you ask me. FD have said several times on these forums that the DDF was always intended to be an "aspirational" list of features and they have never (as far as I'm aware) published a list of the DDF features that they intend to work on. They have hinted at one or two things here and there, but that's it. I guess they don't want to end up promising stuff and then having to eat humble pie later on when they have to back out for whatever reason (single player offline, anyone?)

Problem is, that far too many people ended up assuming that ALL the features in there were intended to be a part of the game at some stage and that ED would eventually end up matching the ridiculously large feature list in the DDA - this is not, and never has been, the case.
 
Last edited:

Cevap

C
RoadRunner said:
The DDA was never intended to be a list of features that would make it into the game; it was simply a discussion board set up so that FD could assess ideas from the backers about what we wanted and test the waters regarding what they had in mind for the game mechanics. Sure, some of the stuff on there will be coming in future releases, but a lot of it is pure pie in the sky as far as ever making it into the game goes if you ask me. FD have said several times on these forums that the DDA was always intended to be an "aspirational" list of features and they have never (as far as I'm aware) published a list of the DDA features that they intend to work on. They have hinted at one or two things here and there, but that's it. I guess they don't want to end up promising stuff and then having to eat humble pie later on when they have to back out for whatever reason (single player offline, anyone?)

Problem is, that far too many people ended up assuming that ALL the features in there were intended to be a part of the game at some stage and that ED would eventually end up matching the ridiculously large feature list in the DDA - this is not, and never has been, the case.
Click to expand...

Well, I assumed ALL the features wouldnt be added, but most would. They werent unreasonable features either they were solid, realistic gameplay mechanics which only seemed to expand on the "front page" feature list rather than just be a pub "what if" discussion.

Id like to point out that the DDA was one of the few resources online before release that seemed like a more detailed feature list of stuff that could have been realistically in the game at release (all the interview and stuff were about distant planet-landings and fps-walking), FD was and is pretty arbitrary with info on what the game has, or will have in terms of actual gameplay. Details were impossible to get by before the actual release before no-one knew then and FD sure wasnt telling.

In any case that Archive might as well be purged from the internet entirely imo, FD lowered their expectations on what the game can be and I think it would be best if we should to.
 

Varrag

Varrag
Cevap said:
In any case that Archive might as well be purged from the internet entirely imo, FD lowered their expectations on what the game can be and I think it would be best if we should to.
Click to expand...

I also think it's the best thing to do at this point, especially because there is little to none feedback from the devs regarding the concepts presented in DDF. Reading through that can make people only... nervous. It's almost like reading about some different game.
 
Last edited:

Ian Skippy

Ian Skippy
A million 'easy steps' become an impossibly long walk. I never assumed most or even half of the DDA would be in at release, it is just not realistic.
 

Erimus Kamzel

Erimus Kamzel
It was also an extremely well run bit of marketing that generated a lot of interest, excitement, and dialogue back and forth between backers, potential backers, and FDEV at the height of the kickstarter campaign.

Sorry to say, but a lot of us fell for it and pitched in a lot of money based on the sheer energy and enthusiasm that was coming out of that dev dialogue, player feedback, and Braben's regular dev diaries. Should we have known then that the game would release with a fraction of what was discussed and pitched to pledgers (and no hint of it even being seen at all at this stage), I'm sure the project would have floundered. So it did its job.

I enjoy aspects of what we have but so far there is no way in hell it was worth the £150 I pledged, and if someone polled the high stake backers (if they're even still around) I'd hazard a guess many would feel the same way. But as we're often told, give it time as its only 3 months into release.


Cevap said:
Well, I assumed ALL the features wouldnt be added, but most would. They werent unreasonable features either they were solid, realistic gameplay mechanics which only seemed to expand on the "front page" feature list rather than just be a pub "what if" discussion.

Id like to point out that the DDA was one of the few resources online before release that seemed like a more detailed feature list of stuff that could have been realistically in the game at release (all the interview and stuff were about distant planet-landings and fps-walking), FD was and is pretty arbitrary with info on what the game has, or will have in terms of actual gameplay. Details were impossible to get by before the actual release before no-one knew then and FD sure wasnt telling.

In any case that Archive might as well be purged from the internet entirely imo, FD lowered their expectations on what the game can be and I think it would be best if we should to.
Click to expand...

+1
 
Last edited:

Narius Cen

N
I can't actually believe that people are offended that they get an insight in the creative process... But no, the archives won't be deleted - that would be absurd - so there is nothing to worry about :)
 

[VR] Frank_G

[VR] Frank_G
FD is putting a lot of effort into this game. I am pretty sure they will live up to the expectation with a little patience from the player community.
Offering support and patience will result in so much more than any anger or rant would ever achieve. Its not only up to them.
 

RoadRunner

R
I don't agree that they should remove the DDA because it's a really good way for people that didn't back the game before release to see what was discussed at the time and how things we see in game now came about. Having said that, FD really need to sticky a caveat message at the top advising people of the pub-type "what if" nature of the content, if for nothing else other than to stop people getting hyped up over stuff that will never happen and coming on here flaming about the lack of content.

That's not to say that the DDF was a useless "dream factory" to be used only as a marketing ploy however, as some have suggested. There were in fact several major design decisions that FD made early on in development that were overturned in the DDF and spawned big changes in the game well before many of the players on here even knew the game existed. :)
 

Sanderson

Sanderson
Frank_G said:
FD is putting a lot of effort into this game. I am pretty sure they will live up to the expectation with a little patience from the player community.
Offering support and patience will result in so much more than any anger or rant would ever achieve. Its not only up to them.
Click to expand...

May I assume you missed the previous two years or so of development and the whole DDF/DDA thing? Players and backers had more than just a "little" patience.

The DDA means nothing now, it was a "wish list" and fun exercise for the devs and those that ponied up $$$ to be part of it. There's been no word (that I've seen) on the DDA and what, if anything, Fd "intends" to use from it. Until then, if ever, the DDA is just neat fiction of what could have (many would say should have) been.

So, to the OP, no one knows the fate of persistent NPCs or anything in the DDA for that matter.
 

Narius Cen

N
Sanderson said:
it was a "wish list" and fun exercise for the devs and those that ponied up $$$ to be part of it.
Click to expand...

You say this as if it is a bad thing? Being able to watch the creative process (or even being a part of it via feedback) is the biggest perk of supporting a project. People paid good money to fund the game and to be involved with it long before it was finished. What you say about patience doesn't make sense.
 

Tar Stone

Banned
Tar Stone
I've asked about persistent NPCs in a thread were Michael was answering different questions and points from players, it went ignored.

I started a thread, tried to keep it on the front page, it went ignored.

Seems we are missing some actual rules and mechanics from the DDA too...

Looks like the focus is on creating content (community goals) rather than creating mechanics that create content (DDA).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom